Adhesives are used in many applications, including consumer, industrial, and medical applications. Although some adhesives are intended to form a permanent or semi-permanent bond with the items to which they are applied, many adhesives are used in less permanent applications. The latter type of adhesives are often used in applications in which an article is to be affixed to something else and later removed. An example is the common adhesive bandage strip, which is intended to stick to the skin until the wearer wishes to remove the bandage strip.
A problem with the adhesives that are used in temporary applications is that the adhesive may still adhere well to an object to which it has been applied when the time for removal has arrived. For example, in the case of an adhesive bandage strip, such adhesion can make it more difficult to remove the bandage strip and therefore may cause discomfort to the wearer. Although such discomfort may be relatively mild, the discomfort from removal of other types of bandages can be much greater. For example, removal of medical tape that secures dressings to the skin of a burn patient can not only cause the patient a great deal of pain, but further cause tissue damage.